City votes to demolish rundown Warren church, pastor fights to continue project

A building battle escalates in Warren as neighbors complain a church turned into an eyesore when a construction project stalled.

The Life Application Ministry Christian Church on Schoehnerr and Masonic in Warren wants to finish the million dollar structure, but the city council voted to tear it down.  

The Most Reverend Adolphus Luvert Cast bought the church in 2003, but it fell into disrepair.  

"These panels fly in the wind and they're banging at night. We have a rodent issue," said neighbor Jeffrey Cruel.

On February 27, the Warren City Council voted to demolish the $1.2 million structure. Yet the church, and its 700 member congregation moved to another site in 2015 on the same property, but it says it would've used this building for a family center.  

The church blamed the decay on an unscrupulous builder and delays by the city to get permits.

The pastor can legally challenge the city council's order to demolish the church, but it would have to go to court and time limits apply.

"I think God is going to turn this into something magnificent. I'm believing it," Cast said.

Despite the demolition order, the pastor says he's not going to challenge it, but is also not going tear the building down. The city will do that, and in speaking with the city, whether the pastor gets the bill, that remains to be seen.